Afrinkong
Nature & Landscapes
The Black Rocks and the Namib
Pungo Andongo's monoliths in the north, and the Namib running the whole southern coast.
Southern Africa · Afrinkong
Angola
The Kalandula falls, and a coast nobody has seen.
Kalandula is one of the largest waterfalls in Africa by volume, the Namib runs up the whole southern coast to the Iona dunes, and Luanda's bay is closed by a sand spit with the Atlantic on the other side of it.
Where it is
Africa · Southern Africa · Angola
The land in brief
- Spans
- 1,300 km E–W, 1,500 km N–S
- Latitude
- 4°S to 18°S
- Borders
- 4 countries
- Sea
- Has a coast
- Best time
- The cacimbo, May to September — dry and cooler, and the roads are passable.
Also in Southern Africa
BotswanaA delta that never reaches the seaEswatiniSmall, and full of everythingLesothoThe kingdom in the skyMalawiA lake with more fish species than any otherMozambiqueTwo thousand kilometres of coast
Compare Angola with another countryAll fifty-four, worked through the same twenty-seven categories.When to come
JFMAMJJASOND
The cacimbo, May to September — dry and cooler, and the roads are passable.
01Highlights
What Angola is known for.
Six of the twenty-seven, and the ones most people come for. The rest are below — and none of them is filler.
Nature & Landscapes
Giant Sable
The palanca negra gigante lives in Angola and nowhere else, and was thought extinct until 2004.
Mountains
Mount Moco
2,620 metres in the Huambo highlands, with the last Afromontane forest in the country on it.
Sixteen Hundred Kilometres of Atlantic
The Ilha at Luanda, the Mussulo lagoon, and the dune coast running south to Iona.
Maiombe
Angola's Amazon — rainforest in the Cabinda exclave, north of the Congo river.
Culture
Semba, Kizomba and Kuduro
Semba became samba across the Atlantic, and kuduro went back the other way.
02Experiences
25 ways to spend the time.
Every country we cover works through the same twenty-seven categories, so you can hold two of them side by side and compare like with like rather than one brochure against another. Compare Angola with another → The two not listed here are the hero picture and the case for going, which has a section of its own below.
Landscapes
- The Black Rocks and the NamibPungo Andongo's monoliths in the north, and the Namib running the whole southern coast.
- Mount Moco2,620 metres in the Huambo highlands, with the last Afromontane forest in the country on it.
- Kalandula and RuacanaKalandula in Malanje, and the Ruacana falls on the Cunene where Namibia begins.
- The Kwanza and the CuneneThe Kwanza runs to the Atlantic below Luanda; the Cunene is the Namibian border.
- Sixteen Hundred Kilometres of AtlanticThe Ilha at Luanda, the Mussulo lagoon, and the dune coast running south to Iona.
- MaiombeAngola's Amazon — rainforest in the Cabinda exclave, north of the Congo river.
Wildlife
- Giant SableThe palanca negra gigante lives in Angola and nowhere else, and was thought extinct until 2004.
- Kissama and Luengue-LuianaKissama two hours from Luanda, restocked and recovering; the southeast on the Okavango's headwaters.
- Bringing the Sable BackThe giant sable was found alive in 2004 and has been fenced, guarded and bred since.
- The Escarpment RoadsSerra da Leba's hairpins, and Tundavala where the plateau simply stops.
People and culture
- Semba, Kizomba and KuduroSemba became samba across the Atlantic, and kuduro went back the other way.
- Ovimbundu, Mbundu, Bakongo, OvahimbaOvimbundu in the centre, Bakongo in the north, and Ovahimba along the Cunene.
- Carnaval da VitoriaLuanda's carnival on the Marginal, with the neighbourhood groups competing.
- The Pensador and BasketryThe Chokwe Thinker is the national symbol, and Chokwe masks and chairs are among Africa's finest.
- Funge, Muamba and CaluluFunge with muamba de galinha, calulu with dried fish, and Portuguese pastries after.
- The MussuloA lagoon behind the spit south of Luanda, calm, shallow and full of families at weekends.
- The Marginal at SixThe whole city walks and runs the bay road in the evening, and keeps doing it after dark.
Places
- Luanda and BenguelaA bay closed by a sand spit and a skyline that went up fast, and a quieter colonial port south.
- Portuguese Colonial and ModernistFortaleza de Sao Miguel, Benguela's pastel streets, and Luanda's late-modernist blocks.
- Mbanza KongoThe capital of the Kingdom of Kongo, and the first sub-Saharan city to have a stone cathedral.
- Mbanza Kongo, ListedInscribed in 2017 as the seat of a kingdom that dealt with Portugal as an equal.
Ways to travel
- The Southern DesertIona, the Tundavala gap and the escarpment road down to Namibe.
- Luanda, and Little ElseGood hotels in the capital, and very little organised outside it.
- Water and RockKalandula in the wet season, when the spray reaches the viewpoint.
- TundavalaA gap in the escarpment where the ground drops a thousand metres, with no railing.
03Why go
The case for Angola.
Why Visit This Country
Why Angola
A waterfall to rival Victoria's, a desert coast, and a capital that surprises everyone.
Hidden Gems
Tundavala
A gap in the escarpment where the ground drops a thousand metres, with no railing.
Eco Tourism
Bringing the Sable Back
The giant sable was found alive in 2004 and has been fenced, guarded and bred since.
Heritage
Mbanza Kongo, Listed
Inscribed in 2017 as the seat of a kingdom that dealt with Portugal as an equal.
04Go deeper
All of Angola, four ways in.
Who would take youAfrinkong
The ground is ours right across Africa: your vehicle, your driver for the whole journey, and the days shaped around what you came for.
In Cameroon, Uganda and Namibia you travel with companies of our own as well.
Plan your journey →
Begin
Your Angola starts here.
Tell us the month, or simply the thing you want to see, and a guide who works there will answer.